Community Columnists – Voice of OChttps://voiceofoc.org
Orange County's nonprofit newsroomMon, 21 Jan 2019 09:08:10 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.9Aitken: If All Politics is Local, then Democracy is in Real Trouble and the Villain is The Mail Box, The Pipe Bomb of Politics.https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/aitken-if-all-politics-is-local-then-democracy-is-in-real-trouble-and-the-villain-is-the-mail-box-the-pipe-bomb-of-politics/
https://voiceofoc.org/2018/11/aitken-if-all-politics-is-local-then-democracy-is-in-real-trouble-and-the-villain-is-the-mail-box-the-pipe-bomb-of-politics/#respondMon, 05 Nov 2018 15:29:43 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=709095“Mothers don’t let your children grow up to be cowboys, let them be doctors andlawyers and such…….”

And certainly not politicians (with all due respect to Willie Nelson).

Why am I writing this article at this time? Just a day before what is perceived to be historic mid term elections (maybe) or a Blue wave (or a drip from a faucet)?

The answer is relatively simple, I wanted to write about my frontline observations without being influenced by the outcome, not being labeled as a sore loser or less than gracious winner or whatever. I wanted to express my thoughts without being tainted by the natural feelings, which arise from the result.

Now why the title?

The story I am about to share could be Irvine or Costa Mesa or Santa Ana or any large city in the OC (though people who read this article will recognize that smaller towns are not immune.)

Now coming from a trial lawyer and a theatre background I will organize my thoughts as if I were sketching the outline of a play.

THE CAST

My daughter Ashleigh Aitken. Mother of three children, Girl Scout leader, lawyer, former federal prosecutor, engaged community leader, bar president, chair of the fair board etc. In other words an under achiever. Has this idea she could be the first female Mayor of Anaheim.

The Resort District of Anaheim. I will get back to them.

The City of Anaheim. Multi cultural with wide swings of income and living conditions.

The Mail Box: the device used to deceive voters or at least confuse them. Often harmless and useful during a non-political season.

THE PLACE

ANAHEIM. 10th largest city in California, largest in Orange County. Home to approximately 400,000 people, Home to Disneyland (My wife Bette and I arrived from different parts of the country as young kids in 1955, the year Uncle Walt opened Disneyland, Home to the Anaheim Angels (couldn’t help it) and the “Resort District”. The Resort District, the home of the myopic Chamber of Commerce and the multi Million dollar Hotel owners contained therein (which by the way initially made more money than Uncle Walt, which is why the Disney Company years later bought all the land around Disney World).

And then there is the rest of us.

THE PLOT

Idealistic daughter wants to give back. She knows the main issues we are struggling with are Homelessness, Affordable Housing, Public safety (she had worked with the FBI and local police as a Federal prosecutor ). Loves the city she grew up in. Her father says you are clearly qualified but that gets you half way to being elected, the next half is brutal. Her father is somewhat more cynical.

Enter Disneyland and the large hotel owners, who spend well over two million dollars to attempt to elect their choices for mayor and council (Does anyone remember the villain “Oil Can Harry” from the early melodramas?)

THE ISSUES AND PROCESS

The issues are whether the resort district driving the city to success or ruin for most of the city?

Legitimate issue to discuss.

Are the few hotel owners who have received millions in city subsidies and tax giveaways creating real jobs or at the public trough.

There are a host of other issues as all cities with legitimate differences of opinion.

The process is what is scary. More scary, by far than Knott’s Scary Farm and probably without a solution. After all corporations are “persons”with the unlimited right to spend money to influence elections in the name of free speech.

There is The Mail Box: how could a mailbox be a villain?

The favorite toy of manipulative political consultants. It can come alive.

Example: Just today while working on this article I received six pieces of political mail which illustrate how the game is played. They all were sent out simultaneously by the group of hotel owners who are supporters of Harry Sidhu, another candidate for Mayor. They always choose a fancy name like Citizens for Anaheim’s Future. Three tout a minor candidate who has no resources and who is running against Sidhu.

Now why would they do that?

They tout her as a woman Democrat. Her only role is to draw votes from Ashleigh Aitken to enhance Oil Can’s chances and down play the fact that Ashleigh is the officially endorsed Candidate. One of the mailers is misrepresented as a Democrat Voters Guide from the Anaheim Hills Democrat Club but no such club exists. Who do they endorse? Sidhu, who self describes himself in his literature as a conservative Republican. The other two pieces are attacks on Ashleigh Aitken based on facts, which are undeniably false.

Not a bad days work.

What is Dark Money?

It’s the money, which finances the deception outlined above.

Though most people would suggest I am not naive as it comes to politics, most of my personal involvement had been at the state or national level where you have at least some checks and balances through media coverage, newspapers, TV and radio in the like. At the local level, beyond neighbor to neighbor which is challenging in a town the size of Anaheim unless you have that over two million dollars you can’t do TV or radio and the clutter of the congressional races etc. would render them weak in any event.

So what is the Game plan?

The Resort District forms PACS with cute little names and supports candidates in each of the Districts who march to their tune. Let me state the issue simply. Could anyone reading this article truly believe a city council candidate who gets their share of the over a million and half dollars donated by Disney is not a sure vote for them and the hotel owners and their agenda who have raised more than a million? We are talking $300,000 a piece. These are allegedly smart business owners. They know how to invest.

But what if their message doesn’t resonate on the merits?

They are forced to go to attacks on the character of a candidate. How do they move this money into the city, which has campaign limits of $2,000 per person? They give money to PACS and give them fancy names like your neighborhood association or SOAR or the Hotel and Lodging association or even phony political party groups that don’t even exist.

Why don’t we know who is really behind these groups?

Because we have a law that says if you give $50,000 you have to be identified on the mailer so all these business interests hide themselves by deliberately giving only $49,500.

That’s the Dark Money.

In other words they use political operatives with no character and who are never identified to the citizens in Anaheim to attack the candidates who have character who hopefully survive these vicious personal attacks.

Hopefully the voters will see through all of this but it won’t be easy for them and so often the truth comes out after the election.

Are you depressed yet?

I could get depressed just writing this story. Most of these stories have a happy ending. Hard work and knocking on doors and tirelessly getting out your message leads to success, which is what the polls suggest in our race.

But not always…

Many fail or these operatives would not be hired and don’t expect to see any in the unemployment line soon. And we can’t lose faith that the voters themselves will see through this tangled web. Or maybe I am naive.

THE SOLUTION

Why can’t we say enough is enough at the local level as a starting point?

There used to be bipartisan citizens groups that could hold hearings into unethical practices. Business speech gets reeled in as we enact truth in lending and truth in advertising yet there should be a path for political speech.

The courts shy away, heaven knows they get enough criticism but there needs be some type of simple remedies beyond lengthy slander actions.

Everybody seems to have a fascination with warning labels.

How about, Mail Boxes can be hazardous to your health.

Carefully read the material and investigate its accuracy, If the user doesn’t have time to do that please immediately throw them away. Do not pass go and do not collect $200.

In the final analysis it is the lack of transparency, which is at the root of the problem.

If you have the courage to lie then you should have the courage to identify your self.

Wylie Aitken is a nationally recognized attorney, chairs the Chapman University Board of Trustees and also serves as the board chairman for Voice of OC.

FivePoint Holdings CEO Emile Haddad says he’s ready to be part of the effort kick-started by Donald Bren’s Irvine Company to woo the giant on-line retailer to Irvine.

Moreover, Haddad says he’s also involved in similar efforts underway in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where FivePoint also has major developments.

“We want it to be California,” Hadddad said in an interview for the “Inside OC with Rick Reiff” public affairs show. “We would love to have it be Irvine but we’d love it to be San Francisco and Los Angeles as well.”

Haddad said FivePoint will be “working with our public partners” – the cities and agencies in all three locales.

Amazon’s specs include enough room to accommodate an 8 million-square-foot operation and enough housing for 50,000 workers, which Haddad said translates into 20-25,000 housing units. (Amazon has indicated it only needs 500,000 to a million square feet initially, with additional expansion phased in over the next decade.)

Haddad said either the Irvine Company or FivePoint could meet that criteria in Irvine, where Bren is building out his ranch and Haddad is developing around the Great Park.

But Haddad described the process as more collaborative than competitive.

“We’re very excited that Mr. Bren came out and put Irvine at the same level as New York or San Francisco,” he said. “We would be working with the Irvine Company, with the city of Irvine and I assume that there’s going to be a larger group of people, regional groups public and private, that would be part of this.”

Haddad said Five Point has about 20,000 home sites and five to six million square feet of commercial space in San Francisco, where it is redeveloping the San Francisco and Hunters Point Shipyards and former Candlestick Park sites.

“In San Francisco, nobody else has the critical mass,” Haddad said.

And Haddad suggested Amazon could have a virtual company town at Newhall Ranch, FivePoint’s sprawling property in Santa Clarita in northwest Los Angeles County where Newhall has approvals for 21,000 homes and 11.5 million square feet of commercial space.

The long-delayed project was approved in July by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. FivePoint is projecting a construction start in mid-2018 despite lawsuits from project opponents.

“Newhall fits all the criteria put out by Amazon in terms of a location,” Haddad said. “It could also be a distribution center for Amazon because of the central location to the Central Valley, Los Angeles, Orange County and the Antelope Valley … and we’re right on the 5 freeway which is the artery of commerce that connects Mexico to Canada.”

Yet California cities do not make some pundits’ “most likely” lists, which typically give Texas, Denver or several East Coast locales the inside track on landing Amazon. Some wonder if Seattle-based Amazon wants to place another HQ on the West Coast and critics cite California’s high taxes and stringent regulations.

Haddad agreed that California is “unfriendly to business” and has other “challenges.”

“If Amazon decides to take a site that is going to require a CEQA (environmental review) process, is that going to be a lengthy process? The answer is yes,” Haddad said. “Is that going to chill Amazon? The answer is yes.”

But in other ways, Haddad said, California is an ideal location for Amazon.

“Things that are changing the world are coming out of California,” he said. “And if you really want to be in a place where you can tap into great research universities, lifestyle, the concentration of talent, then California will stack up at the top of the list.”

A potential roadblock to bringing Amazon to Irvine is a residents’ slow-growth initiative that is being proposed for the November 2018 ballot.

Haddad joined the Irvine Company in opposition to the proposed measure. “No growth stops a lot more than just traffic,” he said. “You have job creation, you have a generation today that wants to live in Orange County but they cannot live in Orange County because of affordability and you’re pushing them away.”

But Haddad acknowledged the dissatisfaction fueling the initiative.
“In the last probably seven years, I think the approval process in Irvine got away from the masterplanning concept and we started to see things more piecemeal,” Haddad said. “I’m hoping that this means nothing more than a wake-up call so we can start addressing things proactively rather than reactively.”

Haddad’s comments about Amazon and the initiative are part of a wide-ranging discussion that airs Sunday, Oct. 1, at 5 p.m. on PBS SoCal. The program will also air at other times that week on PBS SoCal, KDOC and Cox. All show times are at www.rickreiff.com. An excerpt of the interview is available on YouTube.

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/09/reiff-great-park-developer-eyes-amazon-criticizes-slow-growth-measure/feed/5Rodríguez: Santa Ana Unified School District Approach on District Security Officers Jeopardizes Student Safetyhttps://voiceofoc.org/2017/08/rodriguez-santa-ana-unified-school-district-approach-on-district-security-officers-jeopardizes-student-safety/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/08/rodriguez-santa-ana-unified-school-district-approach-on-district-security-officers-jeopardizes-student-safety/#respondThu, 17 Aug 2017 08:30:03 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=392107On August 8, 2017, less than a week before the start of the new school year, the Santa Ana Unified School District ordered 25 of the 38 District Security Officers (DSOs) to move from their middle schools and high schools to other sites.

The relocation notice came without explanation or a robust plan and stipulated a two-week deadline: August 23, 2017.

As a member of the Santa Ana Board of Education, I am profoundly troubled by the hastiness of this decision.

Although I typically leave administrative matters to the Superintendent, I feel compelled to make a public statement because the haphazard relocation of DSOs jeopardizes student safety.

Nothing is more important to me than student safety and DSOs are central to campus safety.

The potentially negative impact of plucking DSOs from their schools and moving them elsewhere is substantial. For example:

Last semester, a DSO acted promptly to keep a student alive until medical support came. He was able to do so because he had very specific knowledge about the student’s medical condition.

This summer, another DSO was able to quickly locate and shut down a gas line before it affected more students in the school.

DSOs have also built a rich web of caring relationships with students at their individual schools, as evidenced by the deluge of emails from current and former students expressing how meaningful DSOs have been in their lives.

In maintaining our campuses safe, DSOs not only reduce suspensions and expulsions; they also boost attendance and graduation rates.

Let me be clear. I am not arguing that DSOs should stay in the same school forever. Nor am I disputing the District’s authority to rotate DSOs to different campuses. There is some merit to rotating DSOs in some fashion.

However, the real issue is to ensure that DSO relocations are done in a responsible manner, allowing time for DSOs to transfer student-specific knowledge to other DSOs and to enable the new DSOs to build trusting relationships with students.

It simply takes more than two weeks to achieve these objectives meaningfully, particularly when the magnitude of the relocation is staggering: nearly 70 percent of the DSOs are being moved across all middle schools and high schools. (Nobody I have spoken can remember a staff relocation of this scale in the last 30 years.)

Indeed, I fail to see why these relocations must all happen by next Wednesday, August 23. There is no crisis, like an out-of-control fire, forcing us to do all this in two weeks.

In closing, I am calling upon the District to freeze this relocation process and instead to develop a robust transition plan. DSOs should be included in providing ideas, while the District retains the power to make final decisions.

I hope that over the next couple of days, the District and California Schools Employees Association (CSEA) —the union representing DSOs—will both put student safety first and come to an agreement to extend the deadline and to include DSOs in the planning.

Student safety demands deliberate, inclusive, and thoughtful actions.

Rigo Rodríguez is a Governing Board Member for the Santa Ana Unified School District.

Opinions expressed in editorials belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please contact Voice of OC Involvement Editor Theresa Sears at TSears@voiceofoc.org

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/08/rodriguez-santa-ana-unified-school-district-approach-on-district-security-officers-jeopardizes-student-safety/feed/0Berardino: Heroes Hall Veterans Museum Honors More Heroeshttps://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/berardino-heroes-hall-veterans-museum-honors-more-heroes/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/berardino-heroes-hall-veterans-museum-honors-more-heroes/#respondSun, 28 May 2017 22:14:49 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=345647This Memorial Day a new tribute to the brave men and women who have served our great nation is open to the public … Heroes Hall Museum at the Orange County Fair and Event Center.

On Thursday, May 25th the Board of Directors at the Fairgrounds inducted two new members to the beautiful Walk of Honor at the museum, Kazuo Masuda and Vincent Okamoto.

Map showing location of where U.S. Air Force C-135 aircraft crashed after leaving El Toro Marine Corps Air Station killing all 84 on board. This graphic was published in the June 26, 1965 Los Angeles Times.

In addition to these brave heroes a plaque will be erected to honor the eighty four men who were killed when the plane transporting them to Viet Nam crashed into Loma Ridge after take off from El Toro Marine Air Station on June 25, 1965.

Staff Sergeant Kazuo “Kaz” Masuda Courtesy of the United States Department of Defense

Kazuo Masuda was an Orange County resident who received posthumously the Distinguished Service Cross in 1945. Masuda was a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and died while defending his men during an escape while fighting the enemy alone. His family was taken from Orange County and placed in a Japanese Interment Camp during the war. But this horrible injustice did not deter him from fighting for his country so heroically.

Judge Vincent Okamoto courtesy of American Veterans Center

Judge Vincent Okamoto is the most highly decorated Japanese American from the Viet Nam war. Judge Okamoto’s parents were taken from Costa Mesa during World War II and interned in Poston, Arizona where he was born. On August 24, 1968 under heavy enemy fire he boarded a partially destroyed armored personnel carrier and manned the machine gun. After the weapon malfunctioned he jumped on a second and then third to provide suppressive fire. He then crawled under heavy small arms fire to a position within 10 meters of the enemy and destroyed them. Although wounded in the attack, he refused medical treatment and kept fighting. For his heroism he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He also received for additional heroic actions a Bronze Star, Silver Star, three Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.

I hope this Memorial Day, you take a moment from the cook out or beach trip or any other fun activity and look to the sky and say thank you. Your words will thunder in the ears of those in heaven who have sacrificed so much for all of us.

Also come to Heroes Hall, which will be open from 11:00 to 5:00 and enjoy the museum; parking and entrance is free!!

Opinions expressed in editorials belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please contact Voice of OC Involvement Editor Theresa Sears at TSears@voiceofoc.org

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/berardino-heroes-hall-veterans-museum-honors-more-heroes/feed/0Reiff: Ila Borders’ Baseball (and Life) Odysseyhttps://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/reiff-ila-borders-baseball-and-life-odyssey/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/reiff-ila-borders-baseball-and-life-odyssey/#respondThu, 11 May 2017 06:02:27 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=334687No other woman has matched the feats of 1990’s pitching phenom Ila Borders, a pony-tailed girl from La Mirada who won men’s baseball games in both college and the pros.

But when that woman comes along – Borders is confident she will – she’ll almost certainly find a more welcoming environment than Borders did.

“It’s a different world now, and I’m very grateful and excited about that,” Borders said in an interview on the “Inside OC with Rick Reiff” public affairs program to promote her new book, “Making My Pitch.”

Besides having to endure hostile opposing coaches, angry little league and high school moms, suspicious players’ wives, locker room taunting and family and financial pressures, Borders spent her baseball career and years after hiding that she was a lesbian.

“I would have been kicked out. I would not have been able to play professional baseball. At that time it was not okay,” Borders said. “My entire dream of playing college baseball, pro baseball, I didn’t want that taken away.”

Borders, now a paramedic/firefighter in Portland, Oregon, said it’s a whole new ballgame:

“I’m out to family, friends, the media, everybody. And you can tell the big difference because where I work now… I work with men the entire time, I’m the only female, they have no problem with it. They invite my wife to banquets and we go over for dinner.”

A self-described “crafty lefty” with a fastball that broke 80 miles an hour, Borders was a sensation whose exploits drew widespread media and fan attention. In 1999 photographer Annie Leibovitz included a picture of pitcher Borders in an exhibit of 20th Century women at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.; Leibovitz paid for the cash-strapped Borders to attend the opening reception, where the wide-eyed young women met luminaries including President Bill and First Lady Hillary Clinton.

But Borders said she could never fully embrace “Ilamania” for fear of “negative stuff coming out,” particularly while pitching for a conservative Christian school in Costa Mesa, Southern California College (now Vanguard University).

“They gave me a shot, but with that came a lot of responsibility. They were taking a huge risk on me and I knew that,” Borders said. “I am a Christian and I am a gay woman. I could not be both at that particular place at that particular time.”

The pressure of living a hidden life continued after her playing days. Borders hit bottom in 2007 when the woman to whom she was secretly married was killed by a drunk driver. Borders said she contemplated suicide but came through the ordeal because of her Christian faith.

Borders is still the only woman to pitch and win a complete game in collegiate ball. She played four years in independent minor league baseball, winning twice, the only woman to win a professional game in the past 60-plus years.

She said there will “definitely” be a woman pitcher in the major leagues someday, but predicted she is likely to come from Japan, Canada or Australia, where more women play baseball. She said more American girls are playing ball than ever, but they’re steered into softball, often in pursuit of college scholarships.

“I’m trying to get this book out to say there is an opportunity (in baseball),” she said.

The interview was part of a program that also featured Borders’ co-author, Laguna Beach writer Jean Hastings Ardell; Ardell’s husband Dan, a real estate executive and member of the original Los Angeles Angels in 1961; and Whittier College professor Joe Price, who has sung the national anthem at more than 125 ballparks.

The program, which aired last week on PBS SoCal, KDOC and Cox, can be viewed on YouTube.

It’s a widely held view in the politically charged debate over illegal immigration and sanctuary cities. But a UC Irvine criminologist says it’s an assumption unsupported by the facts. And a longtime Anaheim cop suggests immigrant crime is a non-issue in local law enforcement.

UC Irvine criminologist Charis Kubrin said on the “Inside OC with Rick Reiff” public affairs program that hundreds of studies over the past 15 years have all reached the same conclusion: “Immigrants are less crime-prone than the native population” and “immigration to an area causes crime to go down rather than up.”

Retired Anaheim police Capt. Joe Vargas, who joined Kubrin in a discussion about the rising crime rate, said that in years of attending international chief of police conferences the problem of immigration “was never discussed.”

“We talked about gangs, we talked about drug trafficking, we even talked about dysfunctional family homes being a major cause of crime. Never was it immigrants,” Vargas said.

Kubrin lamented that her and colleagues’ findings “have not made their way into the public imagination. … You will hear people say left, right and center that immigrants are crime-prone, they are causing our crime rates to go up, right? The (presidential) executive orders we are seeing now reflect that assumption, and it is not true.”

Vargas said crackdowns on illegal immigration make it tougher for local law enforcement to keep communities safe:

“The challenge for the police executives in our cities is the fact that they have large immigrant communities and they have to connect with those communities … It creates a huge problem when, let’s say, ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) shows up and is rounding up people and asks for local assistance, and with the social media today … the next thing you’ve got the entire neighborhood surrounding them, and now what do the local police do when they say, ‘Well, we’re not working with Immigration,’ but now we have to protect them and help them? It puts us into a bit of a tough spot.

“Plus, many people like myself … how many of our Hispanic officers are direct descendants from illegal immigrants? And now … people are saying, ‘We want you to go out and pick up people that look like your mom and dad and your aunts and uncles.’”

Kubrin and Vargas also agreed that while gang violence remains a big concern, it is not as much a scourge as in the recent past.

“The 1990s were ridiculous,” Vargas said. “I was a patrol officer and a supervisor during that era and it was routine to get four or five shootings in a single weekend. We’re light years away from that. But that doesn’t mean squat to the person who’s a victim of a gang-related crime.”

Kubrin and Vargas differed on the best way to reduce citizen-cop confrontations.

“What I think these cases raise is the question of what can be done in police departments and in police community relations, community is part of that, in order to minimize these incidents happening?” Kubrin said.

“What happened to compliance?” Vargas asked. “The number one way to reduce police use of force across the country is compliance.”

The discussion, second of two parts, is airing this week on PBS SoCal and Cox. Show times are here www.rickreiff.com. The show can also be viewed on You Tube.

Opinions expressed in editorials belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please contact Voice of OC Involvement Editor Theresa Sears at TSears@voiceofoc.org

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/reiff-immigrants-crime-prone-cop-criminologist-say-it-aint-so/feed/3Rush: Tolerance and Free Speech in Newport Beachhttps://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/rush-tolerance-and-free-speech-in-newport-beach/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/rush-tolerance-and-free-speech-in-newport-beach/#commentsThu, 11 May 2017 05:58:25 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=336558I caught a recent story in a competing publication (Wall Street Journal) reporting on a survey conducted of Yale University students testing their opinion on the value of free speech.

Yale is hardly a bastion of right-wing thought. It’s one of America’s most prestigious and liberal institutions.

I was mildly surprised to learn that 72% of the students “opposed speech codes to regulate speech for students and faculty” while 16% favored the idea.

Juxtapose this on the intolerant few that want to recall Newport Beach City Councilman Scott Peotter.

Peotter is an outspoken fiscal and social conservative that has riled up those opposed to his views.

They’re willing to waste $500,000 of YOUR TAXPAYER money on a special recall election when Peotter is already on the ballot next year.

I firmly believe that in these times of political correctness that Peotter has the right to express his views – that’s free speech.

Even the intellectual elite and Yale seem to agree.

Bob Rush, former Assembly Candidate

Opinions expressed in editorials belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please contact Voice of OC Involvement Editor Theresa Sears at TSears@voiceofoc.org

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/rush-tolerance-and-free-speech-in-newport-beach/feed/2Kanne: Will County Supervisors Gamble on Public Safety For Esperanza Hills?https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/kanne-will-county-supervisors-gamble-on-public-safety-for-esperanza-hills/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/kanne-will-county-supervisors-gamble-on-public-safety-for-esperanza-hills/#commentsSat, 06 May 2017 03:39:03 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=334684In June 2015, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved the Esperanza Hills project located in county territory adjacent to the City of Yorba Linda and Chino Hills

The Esperanza Hills property lies in County jurisdiction above the City of Yorba Linda.

State Park. The proposal included 340 houses and three accesses on 469 steep, undeveloped hillside acres. This land is only zoned for 117 units, but the developer wants nearly triple that.

The Esperanza Hills property burned to the ground in the 2008 Freeway Complex Fire. Over 280 homes in Yorba Linda also burned to the ground. Existing roadways on both sides of the Esperanza Hills property were gridlocked in the simultaneous mass exodus as residents attempted to flee the smoke, embers, and flames. While 340 new houses

Smoke and embers obscured visibility during the mass evacuation.

were proposed to use those same streets, no road capacity improvements were included.

When approving the project in June 2015, the Supervisors required two daily access routes, one on each side of the project to provide for resident safety in case one evacuation route was cut off by flames. A third access was reserved for use by fire fighters. The Supervisors also required a pre-annexation agreement with the City of Yorba Linda.

Supervisor Spitzer, in whose district the project lies, insisted on two daily access routes because he was concerned about the adequacy of the project’s only legal access on the east, Stonehaven Drive. That legal access is a steep canyon route with two hairpin turns and multiple grade changes. Part of the roadway actually sends traffic into the likely direction of oncoming flames. Spitzer also wanted to disperse the traffic so that the

Stonehaven neighborhood wouldn’t absorb the sole impact of the new project. He knows that the existing roads in that neighborhood already couldn’t handle a massive evacuation. He knows half of the Esperanza Hills project perimeter will forever be wildlands—as Chino Hills State Park. Therefore, the fire hazard danger will always be high at this location and the evacuation routes will always be constrained.

Much has happened since that original 2015 approval. Residents and four environmental groups challenged the project through the courts and won. The City of Yorba Linda refused to allow the developer to use parkland as a project access. Instead, the City pointed the developer in the direction of an alternate route on the west. This route, Aspen Way, was delineated in the City’s General Plan and suggested for use by the residents.

Residents worked with the City of Yorba Linda to get support for two daily accesses into/out of the project.

The Court ordered the County to rescind all approvals. The developer took this interlude to change his plans. Now he wants just one daily access using a huge bridge spanning a deep canyon that dumps all daily traffic onto Stonehaven Drive. He also no longer wants a pre-annexation agreement, thereby creating a new County island.

Last December, to comply with the Court, the Supervisors rescinded all project approvals and turned the project back over to the Planning Commission. In a unanimous vote, they asked the Commission to look at a reduced density, to consider two daily accesses, and to analyze the impacts of the new bridge.

The developer currently refuses a density reduction and claims the second access, Aspen Way, is infeasible since four endangered birds were found near the road alignment. Although the adjacent landowner is willing to sell the roadway easement, the Esperanza Hills developer is not interested. He claims there is no way he can mitigate the impacts to the birds and no way he can work his way through the paperwork and permitting. This is contrary to all of the other developers in the region—who are able to work through it.

Thankfully, the Planning Commission was not buying his excuses. They voted 5-0 to recommend that the Board still require two daily accesses and a pre-annexation agreement.

The new houses may be more fire safe with updated building codes, but the Esperanza Hills residents will still simultaneously evacuate out their single access—and then they will hit a log jam, like we did in 2008. One access is simply not enough for an

Residents fleeing the Freeway Fire in 2008—all lanes were at capacity.

additional 340 houses emptying onto streets that were inundated with panicked evacuees during the last firestorm.

We were so appreciative of the Board’s unanimous acknowledgement in December of the need to reduce the density AND require two daily accesses. Since the primary role of government is public safety, we cannot imagine that the Board would go backwards and only allow one exit. Next Tuesday the project again comes before the Board of Supervisors, so we’ll see then how they view public safety in light of the lessons learned from the Freeway Complex Fire.

Esperanza Hills post Freeway Complex Fire in 2008.

Bob Kanne, Yorba Linda Resident

Opinions expressed in editorials belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please contact Voice of OC Involvement Editor Theresa Sears at TSears@voiceofoc.org

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/kanne-will-county-supervisors-gamble-on-public-safety-for-esperanza-hills/feed/7Rubio: Booze, Weed and Sneakers — But Where Are All the Books in Santa Ana?https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/rubio-booze-weed-and-sneakers-but-where-are-all-the-books-in-santa-ana/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/rubio-booze-weed-and-sneakers-but-where-are-all-the-books-in-santa-ana/#commentsTue, 02 May 2017 17:27:45 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=332732After almost two decades of relative peace, the nightly sounds of helicopters and sirens have returned, and the walls and asphalt of our neighborhood bike trail are saturated with gang graffiti. For people who grew up or lived in Santa Ana in the nineties, this is a familiar story. Even the xenophobic mood of Prop. 187 has been resurrected by the president and his white-supremacist administration. The message in our neighborhood and in the nation is: You Are Not Safe, You Don’t Belong Here.

I was born and raised in Santa Ana. There are many factors that kept my sister and I safe and grounded during that rough decade—primarily our family and neighbors. My sister and I grew up going to the Santa Ana Public Library, and I believe our resiliency came from the ability to imagine another world through books. We skipped college after high school and worked at art school libraries, learning by reading widely and making friends with unusual people. Higher education doesn’t look the same to everyone, but books give people the ability to reason, analyze and imagine for themselves.

Reading activates empathy. When you read novels and short stories, you are in the body and skin of another person. When you read poetry, you excavate your memories and discover your own power. History books, social commentary, and daily newspapers all teach us the patterns of human behavior. We learn how to question authority and demand accountability for ourselves and our leaders.

Unfortunately, Santa Ana has only one full-service public library to serve over 330,000 residents. There are no general interest bookstores in the city. Yet there are over 50 bars and liquor stores, 20 marijuana dispensaries, and at least 4 fancy sneaker shops. What does this say about our city’s priorities? The 2016 OC Community Indicators Report states that only 18% of 3rd graders in Santa Ana meet the state standards for literacy and language arts. Only 28% of 8th graders meet the same standard. How does this lack of literacy and communication skills impact the future of our city’s youth? Consider how few opportunities are available to someone who can barely read or write.

Books can’t stop a bullet or instantly change our leadership, but I do believe they offer a promise of another world. Books give us the courage and skills to build that world. The Santa Ana Public Library has tens of thousands of books and educational materials for Santa Ana residents of all ages and backgrounds to explore their history and potential. I encourage every resident to get a free SAPL card and visit the library at least once a month. If you or someone you know has trouble getting to the library, my nonprofit organization, Makara Center for the Arts, will find a way to get a Little Free Library in your neighborhood. Just contact us at library@makaracenterarts.org.

Fifty bars and liquor stores, twenty weed shops, one full-service library. We reap what we sow. When we become a city of readers, can you imagine our harvest?

Opinions expressed in editorials belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please contact Voice of OC Involvement Editor Theresa Sears at TSears@voiceofoc.org

]]>https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/rubio-booze-weed-and-sneakers-but-where-are-all-the-books-in-santa-ana/feed/9Turner: It’s Time for Districts in Santa Anahttps://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/turner-its-time-for-districts-in-santa-ana/
https://voiceofoc.org/2017/05/turner-its-time-for-districts-in-santa-ana/#commentsTue, 02 May 2017 08:32:08 +0000https://voiceofoc.org/?p=331912In January, the Santa Ana City Council shortsightedly declined to put a measure on the ballot proposing district-based elections in place of the city’s current system, in which city council members are elected at-large (voted upon by the entire city) but must live in a specific district. Not only was their equivocation confusing, with several council members quoted as saying that the people should decide yet refusing to send the issue to voters, but it was unnecessary. The City Council can and should choose to adopt district elections in a legislative session, avoiding delay and the waste of resources.

Over the past four years, several of Orange County’s large cities have made the switch to a district election system, in an attempt to avoid or settle lawsuits brought under the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) that alleged disenfranchisement of Latino voters. Santa Ana, now the largest city in California to lack districts, exists in limbo, using a system in which representatives must live in certain wards of the city but are elected at-large. Like many attempts at compromise, the ward system leaves no one happy. It doesn’t take money out of politics, it doesn’t improve accountability or provide true neighborhood representation, it makes it difficult for grassroots candidates to run viable campaigns, and it doesn’t protect Santa Ana against CVRA lawsuits.

One of the strongest arguments in favor of district elections is their ability to lessen the influence of money in local politics. In a district system, a candidate only has to reach out to the voters within his or her district, significantly lessening the need for expensive mailers, robocalls, and campaign consultants. This levels the playing field for community based candidates who don’t have independent wealth and don’t want to align themselves with special interest groups who can underwrite their campaigns.

2016 saw the Santa Ana Police Union pour $250,000 into three city council elections. The newly elected council members then promptly voted to dismiss a city official whom the police union publicly opposed. Santa Ana – its voters, residents, and representatives – should think hard about the role they want political action committees to have in deciding their city’s policies.

District elections improve accountability, placing councilmembers closer to their constituents. Santa Ana would also guarantee that city council members are representing wards who actually elected them. While the ward system ensures that a council member lives in each area of the city, it doesn’t ensure that the residents of those areas have a representative of their choice. For example, in ward three in 2012, Angelica Amezcua wasn’t the first (or second) choice of ward three residents, yet under Santa Ana’s system she was chosen to represent ward three by the entire city. This is the reason why ward systems like Santa Ana’s don’t meet the standards of the California Voting Rights Act.

January’s discussion started off discussing these topics – money in politics, true neighborhood representation – but was quickly derailed into debated over other electoral-system issues. Should they extend the residence requirement to be longer than 30 days, so you don’t see certain politically-aspiring individuals turn up with their suitcases in your neighborhood every other October? Should the City Council members be full-time compensated positions, so they have more time (and more money) to study policy issues? These aren’t bad questions, but they obscured the point: it’s time for Santa Ana to grow up and get an elections system appropriate for a city of its size and diversity, with real districts, and real democratic representation.

Santa Ana’s council members can handle this issue now, by adopting district elections and joining the rest of large California cities in offering their residents fair representation.

Clara Turner is a research and policy analyst with Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD).

Opinions expressed in editorials belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please contact Voice of OC Involvement Editor Theresa Sears at TSears@voiceofoc.org